Good Mojo Sour Brown Ale is a blend of new [70%] and old [30%] beers. The new is brown ale with sour cherries, fermented with a Belgian yeast strain. The old is seven-year-old beer to which berries, lactobacillus, pediococcus, and brettanomyces were added along the way. This sour beer aged in American oak Cabernet Sauvignon barrels for four years before being transferred to stainless kegs, where it continued to do its magic for the last three years. In May the sour funk was blended with the fresh brown ale, then keg-conditioned with yet another Belgian yeast.

The result is unique and exciting—a beautiful blend that we call Good MoJo.

Beer: Ratings & Reviews

Reviews by AKBelgianBeast:

Just to be clear, this beer has NOT been released in bottles. This was given to me by a very generous gentlemen who is fortunate enough to have a bottle.

Pours a clear bright ruby brown color, huge blood red ruby highlights. An off white head forms well and recedes to a skim and a ring around the glass pretty quickly, leaving spotty lacing.

Nose is massively complex. Notes of lactic sourness, berries, oak and a touch of very light vinegar. Some light sweetness as well.

Wow. This is indeed pretty complex stuff. Definitely the most sour beer that midnight sun has concocted, but having said that this is not some palate thrashingly sour brew. Opens with some light malt sweetness, and quickly moves into oaky dryness, coupled with moderate sourness (on par for a flemish ale). Some berry-like flavor, almost currant like comes out before the finish. Maybe raspberry, or even strawberry? Whatever it is, it works. As the finish approaches, the tartness reaches its peak and a biting dryness almost takes command before it is quickly balanced by a slight sweet malt kick and a very faint malt vinegar flavor. The aftertaste lingers with dry berry flavors and that tartness that remains at a perfect level throughout the taste.

Mouthfeel is dead nuts on for the style here. Carbonation is on the low end of high, if that makes sense. Not a gusher, but nice n fizzy with a nice soft viscosity and a perfect level of dryness.

Drinkability is about as good as it gets for the style as well. The abv is high for the style, but incredibly well hidden. I'm not sure i would call this thing 100% oud bruin, but aside from the catch all "wild ale", oud bruin is probably the closest category available for this...uh...sour shit ;)

Overall, this beer is incredibly enjoyable. Any fan of flemish brews will definitely be psyched on this one. I like the level of tartness that maintains throughout, though it would be interesting to see if it increases with time, and where that takes it. Well, the next good mojo day is December 20th, and i strongly suggest anyone in town goes and gets themself a glass at the brewery. Great beer.

More User Reviews:

Pours a slightly hazy amber-brown color with a half-finger tan head. The head recedes into a patchy layer on top leaving solid lacing.

Smells of medium to dark malts with large amounts of moderately tart cherries and oak. Also present are slight amounts of vinegar and even slighter amounts of funk.

Tastes very similar to how it smells. Medium malt flavors kick things off and are joined quickly by tart cherry flavors that straddle the line of too tart and not tart enough. Midway through the sip the cherries fade a bit, allowing more astringent vinegar flavors to make an appearance. Near the end of the sip hints of funk come into play as do very light amounts of heavy tobacco that fade out into a crisp ending.

Mouthfeel is good. It’s got a nice thickness with smooth carbonation.

Drinkability is very good. I finished my glass quickly and could easily have a few more.

Overall this was a very nice attempt at a style that most American breweries have a tough time pinning down. Well worth a shot.

Thanks to TomDecapolis for sharing this bomber...Appears a semi transparent, with a small head that quickly fades into a whispy, off-white head. Tiny spots of lacing are left around the glass.Smell is of strawberries, bretty funk, caramel, nuts, tartness, light vinegar, and cocoa.Taste is of cocoa, strawberries, caramel, yeast, and fresh bread.Mouthfeel is medium-full bodied, sweet up front, not overly tart, with ripe berries and cherry essence flowing along the palate.Great beer!

Poured a medium and cloudy amberish / brownish color with a smaller sized off white head. Aromas of stawberries, some brett / funkiness, other berries, chocolate, and fruity. Chocolate covered tart berries. Tastes of lighter berries, some funk, lighter chocolate, caramel, and other fruits. Lively body. The tastes more on the subtle side vs. the fantastic aroma. I wrote down 'different'.

One of my favs of all time. Tried on 1/17/2010 at the MSB loft following a great weekend at Alaska Beer & Barleywine Fest.

Pours a deep copper with a very light head. Smell is fruity, bitter, sour.

Taste is very sour with possible brett strains. Malty sweetness, sugary, apple cherry, citrus, reminds me of the scottish gruit Cafe Amsterdam although tamed with a more traditional beer style. Hops are not evident, but this beer was smooth and extremely drinkable with impeccable aging influences.

So good I think I was asked if I could pour it into a mini alc bottle and ship it. Next tasting coming up 8/15/2010. Partial batch 9 years old now? Must have

Pours a slightly hazy copper that clears up as it warms and sits underneath a thin bubbly tan head that lingers as a collar but doesn't leave much lacing.

Aroma is near perfect for the style with brown sugar mixed with tart cherries and hints of oak. On top of that is some leather or tobacco earthiness. Then there's a red wine type of thing going on in the nose as well as some light brett funk, though it's very subtle and well integrated.

The taste is almost as great with an initial chocolate-covered tart cherry flavor. There is brown sugar in the background though it transitions into the red-wine like finish - dry, oaky with plenty of red grapes and, again, a very subtle funky presence.

The mouthfeel is smooth, well carbonated and decadent for the style with the wine balancing the sweetness on the palate.

This is one of the better beers I've had from Midnight Sun (which is saying something). It's one of the better Flanders I've tasted with the red wine bringing some additional complexity to things. Wonderful.

Had this on-tap at the loft this summer. My review was apparently lost in the crash or something, but luckily, I wrote it down in a notebook. Served in a goblet, Good Mojo is a murky, ruddy brown with a small tan collar.

Smell is nice and tart oud bruin, with the cherries very prominently featured, reminiscent of rainier's. I was it was more robust though, served cold, it took a while to open up.

Taste is very good, a nice cherry tartness without being overly funky. Sweet, but quick, refreshing finish, with very prominent cabernet sauvignon notes. Very well done, a great taste, but I'd prefer a bit less young beer for a more complex, sour blend.

Mouthfeel is dry and tannic, making the carbonation crisp, with a medium light body.

Drinkability is high, as it's a very smooth, tasty beer, with the ABV well hidden. Nevertheless, it's expensive and exceptionally rare. I'm just fortunate MSBC had the good mojo bust some out while I was in town!

2 tasters at Stone's 2nd Sour Fest this afternoon, would have had more if this one was not two tickets per pour, one of my favorite beers of the day, this beer supposedly spent seven years in various barrels

A-Reddish brown, very murky, decent head, some retention, not much lacingS-Cooked veggies, musk, cheese, merlot, brown sugar, caramel, malt, candied fruit, rather perfumey, and sweet boozeT-More tart than sour, can taste strawberries and brettanomyces heavily in the flavor, some milk chocolate, various vegetables, apples, slightly acidic, hints of a funky farmhouse ale as well, really all over the place, bready accents, towards the end I got a lot of floral accents and tarty varietiesM-Dry, tart, and sweet mouthfeel, medium bodied, good amount of carbonation, taste lingered nicelyD-Could have drank lots of this, light on the stomach, very smooth, unqiueness keeps you wanting more, ABV need not seem too high

Best beer I have had from Midnight Sun, like nothing else I have ever had, all over the plae but still molded together nicely, too bad this one will not be available again, highly recommended if you ever are lucky enough to come across it, described as a Belgian sour brown ale but I would not even know what one of those tastes like, this brew was extremely weird but phenomenal

On-tap at The Loft. Served in a goblet/chalice-like thing. This is supposedly the second-last keg in existence, so anyone wishing to try this may want to schedule some time off in November.

A - Served with a half-finger of white foam that settles to a thin collar and a few wispy patches on top - pretty good for such a wide-mouthed glass - and minimal lacing. The body is a mostly transparent dark brown-red with some visible bubbles in it.

T - The taste is a little less bracingly sour and tart, with some of the fresh brown ale peeking through and commingling with oaky vanilla to impart a touch of sweet malt balance. Otherwise it's intense sour cherry and funky overripe strawberry, acetobacter, and lactic acid through and through. If there was an "imperial" version of Rodenbach Alexander this would be a dead ringer for it.

M - Medium body, moderate pucker, crisp medium carbonation that avoids harshness. Semi-dry, tannic finish, and some light residual stickiness. After 12oz I started to experience some mildly unsettled GI tract. I didn't realize this was 9% until I started typing up this review - would have pegged it as 6-7% tops.

O - I thoroughly enjoyed this brew, and would have ordered more if it hadn't run out before I returned from lunch. I enjoyed this so much I'm seriously considering coming back in the fall for another kick at it (and also because everyone I met in Anchorage was ridiculously nice, generous, and hospitable). It's a shame this can't be replicated, as even if you were willing to wait 10 years for another batch the story behind the beer is so bizarre and unbelievable that I don't think it'd turn out anywhere similar.

I had this one at the Stone 2nd Annual Sour Fest. This was the first beer I went to.

First a little bit about the beer...from the brewery website:

"Our 13th Anniversary ale is a blend of new [70%] and old [30%] beers. The new is brown ale with sour cherries, fermented with a Belgian yeast strain. The old is seven-year-old beer to which berries, lactobacillus, pediococcus, and brettanomyces were added along the way. This sour beer aged in American oak Cabernet Sauvignon barrels for four years before being transferred to stainless kegs, where it continued to do its magic for the last three years. In May the sour funk was blended with the fresh brown ale, then bottle-and keg-conditioned with yet another Belgian yeast."

My Mojo is a brown shade with hints of red, decent head that fades rather quickly.

Wow, this one smells weird!!! First I get a combination of olives, wine notes, and grapes. I had to let this one sit out for a while and took me a good 15-20 minutes to finish my sample, half of that I just spent smelling it and pondering. After a while the beer revealed some touches of brown sugar, a bit of roasted malts, cheese, cherries, and the underlying funk. Very intriguing.

The taste was actually a little better than the aroma. Tart cherries upfront, grapes, wood, leather, and as my pal Floydster mentioned in his review, cooked vegetables in the aftertaste. The cooked vegetables were not as present to me in the aroma, I did pick them up about 2 times when I took a long whiff, but to me it was more apparent in the finish and aftertaste. There's also some red grapes in there. The cooked vegetable taste and aroma is not as off-putting as it may sound.

Good mouthfeel, well carbonated, crisp, and a little dry in the finish. Easy to drink but this one should be approached as a sipper since there is just so much going on in this one. I thought it was a pretty good beer.

D - Very high. It's too bad I missed out on the original release; this would have been one to stock up on.

A very nice offering from a brewery in an area almost completely devoid of this kind of beer. i don't think it's any better or worse than La Folie or the like, but it really hit the spot, and I'm glad I had the opportunity.